


Stage Lights

by habitatfordeanwinchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Karaoke!Dean, M/M, lawyer!Cas, lawyer!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 15:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2697689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habitatfordeanwinchester/pseuds/habitatfordeanwinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas has a meeting with Sam at a bar. They've got a case to discuss for work, but neither of them are expecting Dean to tag along for karaoke and no one is more surprised than Cas when he takes an instant liking to his coworkers brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stage Lights

**Author's Note:**

> [I made a Destiel AU gifset on Tumblr](http://save-an-impala-ride-an-angel.tumblr.com/post/104021034507/save-an-impala-ride-an-angel-au-where-lawyer-sam) for this concept and later felt possessed to turn it into a ficlet. I apologize.

When Castiel gets to the bar Sam is already there, which isn’t particularly strange. Sam is one of the most talented young lawyers at the firm and usually extremely punctual. It’s why Castiel chose him to work with on this. They’ve got a meeting tonight to work on drawing up some divorce documents for one of their clients. Castiel would normally set a course straight for Sam but he can see his coworker is arguing with another slightly shorter man.

It’s surprising to see Sam look this annoyed with anyone. At work he’s usually something of a gentle giant and Castiel has never so much as seen him raise his voice outside of the courtroom. But there is no mistaking this man has gotten under Sam’s skin. He doesn’t look like your average Wednesday night drunk, the kind who will pick a fight with anyone in the vicinity with an unbalanced swagger and a drunken slur. In fact the shorter man looks quite amused by Sam’s displeasure. His face, which Castiel notices even from across the room is actually rather beautiful, is set in an expression of stubborn mirth. Though he doesn’t seem drunk Castiel can see a slight pinkness to his cheeks and he thinks the other man is probably slightly tipsy. And then he’s smiling and putting a patronizing hand on Sam’s shoulder and he’s almost blinded by how absolutely gorgeous that is. Sam seems frustrated but the other man is already walking away on a pair of bowlegs that have no right to be endearing.

Castiel realizes he’s staring at about the same time that Sam turns around and notices him standing at the door. The taller man strides over to him quickly and gives him a broad smile, which he returns. He likes Sam. They work together frequently and while they’re more work friends than real friends he thinks there is a possibility they could be real friends one day.

“Great you’re here! Do you want to find a table?” Sam asks and Castiel nods gamely, following Sam to a booth in the corner and settling in on opposite sides. Castiel was never really a briefcase man and he pulls the papers they need out of a large leather satchel, handing Sam the parts they need to go over. It’s a pretty cut and dry divorce. The woman’s husband cheated on her and she had a pretty solid pre-nup, they just needed to iron out a few specifics.

Sparing one more quick glance at the bowlegged man Castiel decides he has to ask. “I hope you don’t mind the question but is everything okay? I saw you arguing with that man at the bar.”

“You did? Oh, I’m sorry about that. That’s just Dean.” Sam says with a sigh and they both turn and look. Dean is dressed in jeans, a black t-shirt and a simple beige button up but he looks like he fits in this place far better than Castiel or even Sam. Both of them clearly hadn’t had time to change after work and are wearing suits.

“Dean… as in your brother, Dean?” Castiel asks. Sam talks about Dean often enough that he remembers the name. He usually has nothing but high praise for his brother. In fact, he feels like he knows Dean just from the stories. He practically raised his younger brother, helped put him through law school. Sam always talks about how they prank each other and how Dean tries to take him LARPing.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Sam seems embarrassed at the admission and clears his throat, shuffling through the papers. “I’m sorry about my brother coming tonight. He heard there would be karaoke and he insisted. I tried to tell him this was business and not a social outing but he started whining about how ‘I never want to go out and have funny anymore’ and ‘my lawyer ass thinks it’s too good for karaoke now’ and I just caved. I’m supposed to sing something with him before we leave tonight…”

Castiel finds himself smiling at the thought of Sam doing anything like that. If either of them were to have the reputation of being too serious in the office then it would certainly be him, but Sam has always been so professional he almost can’t picture it. He glances back over at the bar and he’s closer to Dean now than he was before. Their booth is only a dozen or so feet from Dean and the enhanced view gives him a chance to notice a beautiful pair of delicate full lips that seemed almost at odds with the man’s strong jaw. Dean is like something that should be carved in marble; he’s all high cheekbones and sinuous muscle.

“That’s him up there now?” Castiel asks, partially to confirm and partially to distract Sam from the fact that he seems unable to control his staring problem.

“The one and only.” Sam says dryly and if he didn’t know they were brothers before Castiel could have heard it in his tone in that moment. It’s annoyed and embarrassed, but the underlying sentiment is fond whether or not Sam even realizes this himself. As they watch Dean take the stage Castiel has to admire his confidence. He’s never been much for public performances, which is slightly ironic when he considers how often he speaks in court. But it’s not the attention alone that gets him really, it’s just he’s never been comfortable with any kind of performing that’s designed to inspire feelings or emotions. He’d been a wreck in his seventh grade school play and his high school choir teacher had a permanent spot for him in the back row of the chorus, which was just fine with him. But Dean is graceful when he moves up the steps, even if he is a few beers in. There’s something about him that Castiel could watch all night.

“Don’t worry though, he promised to leave us alone to work. I told him if he so much as wanders in this direction I am leaving his ass here to find his own way home.” Sam resolutely ignores when Dean starts singing along to ‘Rock and Roll Never Forgets’, a sharp contrast to Castiel, whose blue eyes are glued to the stage.

After they’ve been working for about 20 minutes Castiel is forced to admit that Dean is shaping up to be a much bigger distraction than Sam could have anticipated. He’d sung two songs and then Castiel had watched him grab a beer while a young girl, probably celebrating her 21st birthday, took a turn singing some Taylor Swift song along to the cheers of her entourage. After that she’d run back to her giggling friends and Dean had reclaimed the stage. Now he’s singing ‘Dead or Alive’ and he saunters around like he has no idea people are watching. Which, to be quite frank, other than Castiel, they really are not. The bar isn’t empty but its patrons seem largely unconcerned with what Dean does as long as it’s relatively easy to listen to. Except for Castiel, who for some reason can’t take his eyes off Dean. He never thought of himself as having the typical thing for singers that most people seemed to have, but damn does it look good on Dean.

It was bound to happen sooner or later and eventually Sam notices Castiel’s distracted gaze. “You okay, Cas?” He asks.

Castiel nods, stands and says “I’ll grab us some beers.” He doesn’t really like beer too much but it seemed like a better idea to let Sam think he was considering purchasing alcohol than that he was obsessively cataloguing his brothers every move.

He orders his drinks from the bartender then turns to look out at the bar. Why does Sam have to have a hot brother? Sam knows he’s into men. It came up once or twice at work, and even though he knows Sam is fine with that in theory he’s not sure Sam’s brother is really the best person to test it with in practice. And besides, just in terms of statistics Dean is probably straight. He’s doing his best not to watch Dean on the stage because the staring has got to be getting creepy and really it shouldn’t be this interesting to watch some stranger walk around a raised platform singing songs he doesn’t know. Except that it is.

He’s glad he’s looking when he sees Dean quirk an eyebrow at him and smile brightly. His heart pounds a little harder in his chest in a way that he knows is all Dean because the bartender isn’t even back with his beers yet. Before he can stop himself he’s raising a tentative hand and he waves awkwardly back. Dean’s smile seems to grow a little and then he turns the other direction on the stage and it occurs to Castiel to panic. He glances around him and there are a few other people milling about at the bar, including the pretty girl who had sung on stage before. Castiel kicks himself internally for waving back to a smile that may not have even been meant for him. His face burns when he looks back at their booth and sees Sam watching him curiously. He scoops up the beers and avoids looking back at the stage on his way back.

Mercifully Sam doesn’t say anything about it but just knowing he witnessed the whole thing is enough to make Cas want to melt into the seat. “Um…I’m back!” He says and hands Sam a beer, settling into his seat. He immediately launches into a discussion about the case, partially to distract himself but also because he figures that if he’s talking Sam won’t mention what happened.

The embarrassment seems to be just the kick in the pants that he needs because they spend the next half hour quite productively, settling most of the more difficult parts of the case. Dean doesn’t sing the whole time. Sometimes there is silence and once an older woman was pushed on to the stage, although Castiel didn’t see it because he is stubbornly refusing to look in that direction. He manages not to look up even when he hears the clicking of equipment and microphone feedback of someone selecting a new song. He does look up though when a low voice comes through the microphone, speaking now, not singing.

“This next one goes out to Mr. Blue Eyes out there in the trench coat.” Dean is saying up on stage and this time Castiel knows he’s not mistaking the subject of Dean’s attention. He turns his head back toward the stage and he’s beaming incredulously while he watches Dean queue up the song ‘Rock of Ages’ in the machine. When Dean gets back on the mic he’s staring straight at Castiel and _holy fucking shit_ have his eyes always been that green? Castiel wonders what they’d look like out of the dim lighting of a bar and in the sun. He winks at Cas as the music starts up and says: “You deserve a shout out for putting up with my Sasquatch brother every day.”

Sam snorts loudly in what Castiel thinks is probably equal parts surprise and amusement. Castiel is already chuckling as he watches Dean sing out the first few words of the song. He’s blushing furiously and he knows it’s pathetic that he’s letting someone affect him like this. Although if he’s not mistaken it’s actually possible that Dean was flirting with him. Rock of Ages is not exactly his favorite song or anything but he likes it well enough and he likes watching Dean sing. He wonders what his voice would sound like completely sober. It’s not unpleasant by any means, no one would be booing him off the stage anytime soon, but Castiel is weirdly certain he’s hiding some fairly decent talent under the layer of alcohol that’s currently running through him. Something about Dean just made him want to believe in his abilities, wholeheartedly to the point of recklessness. Except, now that he’s thinking about Dean’s voice he can’t stop himself from wondering what it might sound like in other situations. He wonders what Dean would sound like telling his life story, what he would sound like saying Castiel’s name and what he sounds like when he laughs.

“Cas…?” Sam asks and Castiel forces himself to look away from the stage and back at Sam because this is really entirely unprofessional even if Dean was maybe possibly flirting with him. They have a job to do after all. Sam’s face is equal parts kindness and amusement. “Would you like me to introduce you guys after Mr. Rockstar up there finishes his next song?”

Castiel is blushing again when he nods.


End file.
